Anomalous scaling of a passive scalar advected by the turbulent velocity field with finite correlation time: Two-loop approximation

Abstract

The renormalization group and operator product expansion are applied to the model of a passive scalar quantity advected by the Gaussian self-similar velocity field with finite, and not small, correlation time. The inertial-range energy spectrum of the velocity is chosen in the form $E(k)\propto k^{1-2\eps}$, and the correlation time at the wavenumber $k$ scales as $k^{-2+η}$. Inertial-range anomalous scaling for the structure functions and other correlation functions emerges as a consequence of the existence in the model of composite operators with negative scaling dimensions, identified with anomalous exponents. For $η>\eps$, these exponents are the same as in the rapid-change limit of the model; for $η<\eps$, they are the same as in the limit of a time-independent (quenched) velocity field. For $\eps=η$ (local turnover exponent), the anomalous exponents are nonuniversal through the dependence on a dimensionless parameter, the ratio of the velocity correlation time and the scalar turnover time. The universality reveals itself, however, only in the second order of the $\eps$ expansion, and the exponents are derived to order $O(\eps^{2})$, including anisotropic contributions. It is shown that, for moderate $n$, the order of the structure function, and $d$, the space dimensionality, finite correlation time enhances the intermittency in comparison with the both limits: the rapid-change and quenched ones. The situation changes when $n$ and/or $d$ become large enough: the correction to the rapid-change limit due to the finite correlation time is positive (that is, the anomalous scaling is suppressed), it is maximal for the quenched limit and monotonically decreases as the correlation time tends to zero.